South Shore’s Mob connections

Imprisoned former FBI agent John Connolly used to live on the South Shore. So too did many of the Winter Hill Gang members currently testifying against him in a Florida courtroom where he is on trial for allegedly orchestrating a 1982 mob hit....

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

Writer

Posted Sep. 24, 2008 at 12:01 AM
Updated Sep 24, 2008 at 8:36 PM

Posted Sep. 24, 2008 at 12:01 AM
Updated Sep 24, 2008 at 8:36 PM

QUINCY

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Imprisoned FBI agent John Connolly used to live here. So too did many of the Winter Hill Gang members currently testifying against him in a Florida courtroom.

Connolly, a former Quincy apartment-dweller, is on trial for allegedly orchestrating the 1982 mob killing of John Callahan, a former president of World Jai-Alai.

The cast of characters being paraded past the Miami jury in the Connolly case includes several mobsters with South Shore ties.

John Martorano, a Milton native and former Quincy resident, testified last week that he killed Callahan after Connolly tipped him off about an FBI investigation into an earlier murder that Martorano did for the Boston mob. Martorano said he and others feared Callahan would lead investigators to them. So he shot him, stuffed the body in the trunk of a Cadillac and parked it at Miami International Airport.

Martorano, 67, a co-captain of the 1959 Milton High football team, has confessed to 20 murders. He spent 12 years in prison after negotiating a deal with prosecutors that includes testifying against Connolly.

Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, 74, testified this week that he and his former partner in crime, James “Whitey” Bulger, paid Connolly more than $250,000 over the years for protection and information. Among Flemmi’s victims were two local women he dated, Deborah Hussey of Milton and Debra Davis of Randolph. Both were murdered in the 1980s.

Page 2 of 2 - Connolly, who retired in 1990, was convicted of racketeering and other charges in 2002 and is serving a 10-year federal prison sentence. The 68-year-old could get life behind bars if convicted of state charges in Callahan’s murder.

Flemmi and Bulger were longtime FBI informants who were handled by Connolly. Flemmi has pleaded guilty to his role in the Callahan slaying and other killings and is serving a life sentence in the federal prison system’s witness protection program.

At one time during the 1980s, Bulger, Flemmi, and Kevin Weeks, Flemmi’s and Bulger’s bodyguard, lived within walking distance of one another on Quincy Shore Drive.

Bulger had an apartment in Louisburg Square South, and Flemmi and Weeks lived across the street.

Bulger also spent time with his girlfriend, Catherine E. Greig, at a house they shared at 16 Hillcrest Road in Quincy’s Squantum neighborhood.

Greig is believed to be on the run with Bulger, 79, who remains a fugitive on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” list.

Bulger lived life dangerously in Quincy, too. At one time, Bulger’s s common-law wife and his girlfriend both owned separate condo units in Louisburg Square South.

Flemmi, who lived part-time with his common-law wife in Milton, had a penthouse apartment at the Atrium complex on Willard Street in Quincy from the late 1970s to early 1980s.

Inside, there was a greenhouse and marble floors. A key was needed for the elevator to reach the top floor.

The trial in Miami is expected to last until mid-November.

To see Bulger on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list, go to www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm.